Oamaru: Victorian Architecture and Blue Penguins

Oamaru (pronounced ŌM-a-RU, not ō-MAR-u as we had initially guessed) is a town of 14,300 on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, between Dunedin and Christchurch. A century and a half ago, it was a rapidly growing, bustling port city. While it’s relatively sleepy today, many of the impressive limestone Victorian buildings remain, giving the downtown a stately, elegant appearance. Institutions such as the Waitaki Museum and Archive, Whitestone City, and the Steampunk HQ document the city’s history.

For us, the biggest attraction was the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. The Blue Penguins, or Little Penguins, are the smallest species of penguin, and can be found in New Zealand and Australia. More on that below.

Whitestone City was filled with relics from Oamaru’s past and offered an informative video.

The facades in this museum were constructed, but the relics inside were genuine.

The buildings surrounding Whitestore City housed local artisans who built and sold their wares on the premises. The BuggyRobot Gallery caught Jeff’s attention.

The Oamaru Public Gardens were a block from the house where we stayed. We walked past the entrance every day during our 10-minute walk downtown. One morning, we visited and enjoyed the beautiful gardens.

As we mentioned above, the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony was the highlight of our visit to Oamaru. We passed this statue on the way to the visitor’s center.

Every evening beginning at sunset, dozens or even hundreds of Blue Penguins swim ashore to spend the night in the Colony’s shelter after a day of swimming in the ocean in search of fish to eat. It’s quite a sight to see! The Colony constructed two grandstands for people to watch their nightly arrival. We spent an hour and a half watching 182 penguins swim ashore and waddle their way up the rocks onto solid ground. (Yes, a staff member counts them.) The penguins are absolutely adorable!

A fun part of the experience was watching them navigate around several seals that were resting on the ground in front of the grandstands, between the sea and the shelter. The seals aren’t predators, but they are quite large compared to the penguins, and the penguins seemed to be intimidated by them. The penguins would gather in groups, 10 or 20 feet away from the seals, wait anxiously for the right moment, then scurry past. A seal would occasionally raise its head, but they never bothered the penguins.

Viewers were prohibited from taking photos and videos and were urged to remain as quiet as possible. This 35-second YouTube video does a good job of summarizing the experience. The video provides a closer view of the penguins than we had.

We enjoyed a particularly good meal at Fat Sally’s, located in one of the old limestone buildings. The appetizer, Sal’s Wontons (pork, spring onions, ginger, and garlic, with dipping sauce) was especially good. Roaring Meg’s is a winery near Cromwell, in Central Otago. We ate lunch in Cromwell during our Queenstown wine tour, but we didn’t stop at Roaring Meg’s. But we enjoyed their wine at a couple of restaurants during our trip.

Give Dave a steak with peppercorn sauce, and he’s happy! (Good wine helps, too.) Jeff enjoyed the Halloumi burger and chips. (Halloumi is a popular, salty, semi-hard, unripe cheese originating from Cyprus, traditionally made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk.)